The Abyss Stares Back

Multilevel Ambushing

16

MAY/16

I meet up with the iron rook on the outskirts of town, where he introduces himself as Percival (I tell him that my name is Jurgen Crotchnow), and he also reveals that he and his allies are vampires. We are not particularly surprised, since they are working for Strahd, but I do have to deal with this chump being all annoyed that I can’t follow him through the woods at his preferred speed.

We all reach the camp and find 2 other men waiting for us there to start the attack, circle the bedrolls and jump in. And then the synod springs their ambush! We almost immediately find out that Ludmilla, the girl that we stole for Strahd, is one of the vampire troopers.

We destroy the vampires but leave Ludmilla, or Camille, or whoever she is, alive. She is now free, since one of the other vampires was her sire, and she is hoping that we can help her by providing asylum. We agree to do so, although there is some disagreement as to whether we are going to reveal her existence to the scholar and the awakened, or whether we will just keep her existence to ourselves.

She tells us that Tatiana is part of a different cell of the iron rooks, and that she is planning on staging an attack on another nearby Vistani camp at dawn. Fortunately, the item that Mads stole from Tatiana is a compass that points to nearby Vistani, and we follow it to the target location. It happens to be the same camp that we had taken Sebastian to (and who had recommended that we have him killed), and we speak briefly with Rouney Marya, who seems disappointed with our new outfits.

We plan to repel the attack and have the Vistani jump out at an opportune time. Then, the attack! A group of spectral wolves come tearing across the meadow at the camp, and we move to stop them. Fight!

We win! Tatiana and her minions are no match for us, although it is close there for a second. Now, to speak with the Rouney about allying themselves with the awakened.